A study on site selection of wind power plant based on prospect theory and VIKOR: a case study in China

PurposeWith the continuous development of the wind power industry, wind power plant (WPP) has become the focus of resource development within the industry. Site selection, as the initial stage of WPP development, is directly related to the feasibility of construction and the future revenue of WPP. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to study the siting of WPP and establish a framework for siting decision-making.Design/methodology/approachFirstly, a site selection evaluation index system is constructed from four aspects of economy, geography, environment and society using the literature review method and the Delphi method, and the weights of each index are comprehensively determined by combining the Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and the entropy weight method (EW). Then, prospect theory and the multi-criteria compromise solution ranking method (VIKOR) are introduced to rank the potential options and determine the best site.FindingsChina is used as a case study, and the robustness and reliability of the methodology are demonstrated through sensitivity analysis, comparative analysis and ablation experiment analysis. This paper aims to provide a useful reference for WPP siting research.Originality/valueIn this paper, DEMATEL and EW are used to determine the weights of indicators, which overcome the disadvantage of single assignment. Prospect theory and VIKOR are combined to construct a decision model, which also considers the attitude of the decision-maker and the compromise solution of the decision result. For the first time, this framework is applied to WPP siting research.